BELTRAIDE – Love FM Belizehttp://lovefm.com
News & Music PowerSat, 19 Jan 2019 05:40:55 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9106000025Who will win the Hackathon competition?http://lovefm.com/will-win-hackathon-competition/
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 03:45:15 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=34902On November 9, a total of six teams competed in a first pitch Hackathon Competition that was held by the Small Business Development Center Belize (SBDC) of BELTRAIDE. From the first competition, three teams advanced to the second pitch which is being held today, namely, SAI INFO, Belize High School Hackers, and LXJ Corozal Junior …

]]>On November 9, a total of six teams competed in a first pitch Hackathon Competition that was held by the Small Business Development Center Belize (SBDC) of BELTRAIDE. From the first competition, three teams advanced to the second pitch which is being held today, namely, SAI INFO, Belize High School Hackers, and LXJ Corozal Junior College/University of Belize. This year’s participants were tasked with developing an app for the healthcare profession. Love news spoke with Tomas Gongora, the Senior Marketing Officer at BELTRAIDE who says that every year Beltraide selects a problem that the country is facing and engages young minds through the Hackathon competition to encourage them to devise innovative solutions.

Thomas Gongora Sr. Marketing Officer, BELTRAIDE: “What’s called a problem statement and it was centered around the connectivity of the Medical profession to the general public so Hospitals, Pharmacies, private Doctors, Healthcare providers and clinics should all be integrated and be at the fingertips through one app or website for people to go on and see who is the nearest Healthcare provider for what their specific need is at the time. One of the main things that they had to do was actually produce a video pitch which would be like a one minute advertisement of their product actually explaining how their products work and what it does not show will benefit the general public. They also had to come up with a powerpoint presentation that explains their product in great detail that is talking about the coding language that they use, what platforms they are going to be using. Is it an app? Is it a website? Is it both? How did they integrate with the different providers on how they are going to be using the app? They had to go and actually research how to get all of these things done and actually put it into working form. On top of that there is a business aspect to this, there had to be one person on the team who is very business savvy who will explain how this product will be rolled out, how it will be profitable and sustainable and what there plans for expansion are in the future.

The winner of the competition will be announced at a Beltraide event which takes place next week Friday. The winner walks away with three thousand five hundred dollars, second place receives two thousand five hundred dollars and third place receives one thousand five hundred dollars. Last year’s winner was Centro Escolar Mexico Junior College.

]]>34902“National Entrepreneurship Road Show” stopped in at ACChttp://lovefm.com/national-entrepreneurship-road-show-stopped-acc/
Wed, 14 Nov 2018 03:15:43 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=34449Last week, BELTRAIDE launched its National Entrepreneurship Road Show in commemoration of the National Entrepreneurship month. The road show was in the north last week, where it made stops at several high schools including Corozal Junior College and Escuela Mexico. Thereafter, it headed to the West stopping at Sacred Heart College. Love news caught up …

]]>Last week, BELTRAIDE launched its National Entrepreneurship Road Show in commemoration of the National Entrepreneurship month. The road show was in the north last week, where it made stops at several high schools including Corozal Junior College and Escuela Mexico. Thereafter, it headed to the West stopping at Sacred Heart College. Love news caught up with the road show today at the Anglican Cathedral College, ACC, here in Belize City. Jorge Gentle, Business Advisor of the Small Business Development Center, SBDC who said that the session is a capacity building workshop which introduces the students to entrepreneurship.

Jorge Gentle Business Advisor:“The workshop aims to provide them with skills on how to better be creative and innovative and again these are characteristics of an entrepreneur so we start off the session by introducing them to definitions, terminologies to what an entrepreneur is, the process of entrepreneurship and then we provide them with different activities, we also integrate a motivational speaker which is we aim at having a young dynamic entrepreneur for them to see basically the success that young entrepreneurs have also.”

Ashley Jones, a teacher at ACC, said that the fourth form business students are participating in the workshop.

Ashley Jones – Teacher: “Facilitators from Beltraide gave a talk about entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur to the students and it was an active workshop because they did not only give information to students however the students also participated in the workshop. There were hands on activities that the students took part in so that they can better understand what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, how its like to create your own products and what may be the risk of being an entrepreneur.”

Love news also spoke with one of the students who shared how the workshop is benefiting her.

Student:“We’ve learned about taking risk and that you will come across certain obstacles in the process of creating your business but you will have to learn how to make difficult decisions and solve them that will, that will benefit you and your business.”

The road show travels south tomorrow stopping at Independence High School in Independence Village; thereafter, making its last stop at Julian Cho in the Toledo District on Thursday. The road show ends with the raffling of a laptop.

]]>34449Dr. Leroy Almendarez is the new Executive Director of Beltraidehttp://lovefm.com/dr-leroy-almendarez-new-executive-director-beltraide/
Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:26:15 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=32430Dr. Leroy Almendarez is the new Executive Director of Beltraide. Dr. Almendarez’ appointment takes effect on Monday. Dr. Almendarez holds a Doctorate Degree in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a MBA from the University of the West Indies, Cavehill Campus. He brings a wide range of experience to Beltraide, having …

]]>Dr. Leroy Almendarez is the new Executive Director of Beltraide. Dr. Almendarez’ appointment takes effect on Monday. Dr. Almendarez holds a Doctorate Degree in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a MBA from the University of the West Indies, Cavehill Campus. He brings a wide range of experience to Beltraide, having served as the Director General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce, the Director of Tariffs and Administration at the Public Utilities Commission. He was also a representative of Belize at the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in Guyana, which has allowed him to establish a strategic network. Beltraide said that Dr. Almendarez’ professional experience and commitment to economic development makes him a perfect fit for the position. Beltraide added that under his leadership the institution will be able to advance their mission to enhance Belize’s prosperity by fostering investor confidence, entrepreneurship, business growth and innovation.

]]>32430Training MSME stakeholders in disaster managementhttp://lovefm.com/training-msme-stakeholders-disaster-management/
Wed, 13 Jun 2018 03:30:10 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=28462With the aim to better prepare Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to continue operations after a natural disaster, BELTRAIDE in collaboration with the Organization of American States, the University of West Indies for Institute of Sustainable Development and the Global Affair Canada is carrying out a training session entitled “Maintaining Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management in …

]]>With the aim to better prepare Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to continue operations after a natural disaster, BELTRAIDE in collaboration with the Organization of American States, the University of West Indies for Institute of Sustainable Development and the Global Affair Canada is carrying out a training session entitled “Maintaining Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management in the MSME Support Ecosystems of the Caribbean Region”. According to Nilda Riverol of BELTRAIDE, during the training session stakeholders of the MSME sector will strengthen their knowledge and capabilities in developing and promoting business continuity planning as a key strategic mitigation measure in the event of a disaster.

Nilda Riverol Manager, SBDC Belize: “The main output that will result from this workshop is an ability for Micro Small Media Enterprises to be in a position to develop a Business Continuity Plan. Should they be impacted by disasters, they should be in a position to continue to operations or if not to be in a position to start operations as soon as possible in the case that a natural disaster should impact them or a disaster of any other sort.”

Hipolito Novelo: How do you get this information to the wider community of the MSME?

Nilda Riverol Manager, SBDC Belize: “The Small Business Development Center as well as our sister unit Export Belize at BELTRAIDE also other business support organizations such as BCCI, the Chamber of Commerce, DFC are all participating in this workshop so by default we will have the information. We are developing the skills set to be able to advise MSME in how to proceed in how to do a Business Continuity Plan so they can contact us at 2233195 or at our email address is SBDCBelize@belizeinvest.org.bzto get more information on this specific topic.”

Hipolito Novelo: And what happens after tomorrow because it is a two day workshop so what happens after tomorrow and any follow up?

Nilda Riverol Manager, SBDC Belize:“It’s a two days workshop so the main output will be developing the sales sets of the participants to be able to make the decision to develop a Business Continuity Plan so what happens next is we will be working with MSME that have a need for us to develop that particular component in their business;a business continuity plan and they should not wait for a hurricane to come to do that, it should be part of their day to day planning, just like they develop a business plan it should be very cognisant that it is very important for them to develop a plan that will allow their operations not to be impacted.”

]]>28462Beltraide & BCCI sign MOChttp://lovefm.com/beltraide-bcci-sign-moc/
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 00:46:09 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=28305The Belize Trade and Investment Development Service, BELTRAIDE, and the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. Kim Aikman signed the memorandum on behalf of BCCI and Lejia Melanie Gideon signed on behalf of BELTRAIDE. The purpose of the Memorandum is to nurture a closer association between private and public sector …

]]>The Belize Trade and Investment Development Service, BELTRAIDE, and the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. Kim Aikman signed the memorandum on behalf of BCCI and Lejia Melanie Gideon signed on behalf of BELTRAIDE. The purpose of the Memorandum is to nurture a closer association between private and public sector by providing efficient and seamless services to MSMEs, exporters, potential exporters, and potential foreign and local investors in the areas of business development, export advancement and export expansion through its technical units. It also aims to meet industry precise needs by offering demand- based, short-term training programs for entry-level positions. BELTRAIDE’s four technical units and Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry will implement the work plan that will be developed under the Memorandum of Cooperation.

]]>28305Prisoners given a chance to dream againhttp://lovefm.com/prisoners-given-chance-dream/
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 03:37:24 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=27984Beltraide has been equipping entrepreneurs with the necessary skills to take their business to the next level. Beltraide has now extended their service to prisoners as well. Today was the culmination of the five-week training course and it concluded with a short graduation ceremony that was held at the Kolbe Foundation. Johnelle McKenzie reports.

]]>Beltraide has been equipping entrepreneurs with the necessary skills to take their business to the next level. Beltraide has now extended their service to prisoners as well. Today was the culmination of the five-week training course and it concluded with a short graduation ceremony that was held at the Kolbe Foundation. Johnelle McKenzie reports.

]]>27984BELTRAIDE is celebrating “National Competitiveness Month”http://lovefm.com/beltraide-celebrating-national-competitiveness-month/
Fri, 04 May 2018 03:43:21 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=26504This month BELTRAIDE is celebrating National Competitiveness Month and will be holding several activities with the aim of improving Belize’s competitiveness. The Export to CARICOM Roundtable was the first event which was held yesterday. Love news spoke with Melanie Gideon, the General Manager of BELTRAIDE, who said that the roundtable was a success. Melanie Gideon …

]]>This month BELTRAIDE is celebrating National Competitiveness Month and will be holding several activities with the aim of improving Belize’s competitiveness. The Export to CARICOM Roundtable was the first event which was held yesterday. Love news spoke with Melanie Gideon, the General Manager of BELTRAIDE, who said that the roundtable was a success.

Melanie Gideon – General Manager, BELTRAIDE: “That’s the signature event to launch this months of activities, we partnered with the Director General of Foreign Trade and CARICOM. Belize is CARICOM, we are a part of CARICOM and in 2016 we exported about I want to say 240 million dollars in valuable goods and most of it came from four companies and so it’s about how as a mandate as a government agency. How do we get more exporters in the CARICOM Market so we did what was the most logical thing to do, we brought in a room of current exporters to talk to potential exporters and teach them, share ideas, share the growing pains of what it was like exporting into CARICOM so What to do? What not to do? What to be mindful for? What not to focus your energies on and then we had also the technical people in there as well from the Foreign Trade to advise them of where opportunities lye. We have a lot of interest from CARICOM for Turmeric, Yellow Ginger and certain types of palm oils, these are things that Belize as a country can facilitate so it’s again giving them not only how to access the market but what are the opportunities in that market which is CARICOM so that was the signature event and it went well the room was packed and it was a very dynamic conversation between the veterans and the newbies.”

Gideon went on to list factors that contribute to a company having a competitive edge.

Melanie Gideon – General Manager, BELTRAIDE: “Is where every year we want to continuously sensitize and educate the Belizean community, the public but what is competitiveness? Competitiveness isn’t external to a company, it’s not external to an individual, and it’s not external to the economy. Competitiveness is all internal, a company cannot be competitive until it improves its efficiency as anywhere from how It recruits its employees, to how it sets up its system when it comes to inventory control ,how its standard operating procedures, risk management, all of these things, these strategies, these policies, these procedures is what defines a company’s competitiveness. When it comes to labor one of the critical factors for a company’s competitiveness is getting the right labor so the Belizean labor or the Belizean individual needs to know that there skill must be relevant to the company they are applying to, not only relevant but continuously relevant so you are continuously self-improving a competitive company, a more mindful company will also continuously train its employees because it’s all about sustaining competitiveness which is not static.”

Other activities plan include Export Belize Artist Toolkit, Export Belize Trade Clinic, and a Career Fair.

]]>26504Entrecon 2017: Inspiring Entrepreneurshttp://lovefm.com/entrecon-2017-inspiring-entrepreneurs/
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:31:19 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=19513BELTRAIDE and the Small Business Development Centre are inspiring, molding, and shaping young entrepreneurs of Belize. In this regard, today they are hosting their third annual entrepreneurship convention, Entrecon, which closes off their entrepreneurship month. The event is being held at the Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza and the platinum sponsor is Belize Electricity …

]]>BELTRAIDE and the Small Business Development Centre are inspiring, molding, and shaping young entrepreneurs of Belize. In this regard, today they are hosting their third annual entrepreneurship convention, Entrecon, which closes off their entrepreneurship month. The event is being held at the Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza and the platinum sponsor is Belize Electricity Limited (BEL). Love News spoke with the Public Relations Manager of BEL, Vonetta Burrell.

Vonetta Burrell – Public Relations Manager

“Yes B.E.L. decided to be the Platinum sponsor of Beltraide’s Entrecon. This is their third year; it’s the first year that we are supporting as a sponsor. We found it as an opportune time to showcase our support of the productive sector. By supporting this conference that is geared towards empowering and educating and facilitating the development of small businesses in Belize.”

This year’s theme for Entrecon is “Connecting Ideas and Creating Opportunities”. Love News spoke with the General Manager of BELTRAIDE, Lejia Melanie Gideon.

Lejia Melanie Gideon – General Manager

“This is our signature event as an organization; it is also the event that closes off our entrepreneurship month which is November and this is global. Countries celebrate, promote, showcase entrepreneurship in their country and Belize has been doing it for the last four years.”

“This event is about bringing the eco-system together. UB is here, Galen is here, the public utilities are here, other government entities, CITO, our government I.T. section, different ministry departments, the private sector, students and when I say private sector entrepreneurs I think I have an idea to an established business. So the full gambit of the ecosystem is in the one room. We have one hundred fifty people today and it’s all about how do we celebrate entrepreneurship. The theme about like I said connecting ideas. It’s about how do we access finance, that is one of the themes today. The other theme is Ecosystem, what can we do better because that’s life we can all do better. In the case of Belize we are juvenile when it comes to entrepreneurship so how can we systematically be better at promoting, supporting, celebrating growing entrepreneurship.”

Gideon said that today’s Entrecon is geared towards helping young entrepreneurs take their idea and bring it to life by making the right connection with entities that can help them grow their business.

]]>19513Is BELTRAIDE the Antidote for Unemployment?http://lovefm.com/is-beltraide-the-antidote-for-unemployment/
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 01:05:09 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=18751One of the reason schools exist is to equip students with the necessary tools to become a part of the workforce. For the most part, schools have been training their students to be employable and not how to be an employer. However, BELTRAIDE wants to change all that, especially given the alarming numbers of persons …

]]>One of the reason schools exist is to equip students with the necessary tools to become a part of the workforce. For the most part, schools have been training their students to be employable and not how to be an employer. However, BELTRAIDE wants to change all that, especially given the alarming numbers of persons who are unemployed, which is as high as 9% of the population, according to the Statistical Institute of Belize. This month is the national entrepreneurial month and during this month one of the initiatives BELTRAIDE intends to embark on is to visit schools and engage students to think of being employers rather than working as an employee for an entity. The Manager of Small Business Development Centre Belize (SBDC) of BELTRAIDE, Nilda Riverol, spoke to Love News about the initiative.

Nilda Riverol – Manager of SBDC

“We have a national entrepreneurship strategy and within that strategy one of the important pillars is culture and mindset, so the education system. We believe that if we start stimulating the minds of our students they could start identifying abilities and potential that is not necessarily linked to being employed or becoming an employee. So we want them to start thinking about what their abilities are and what they can do with it and the main objective is to stimulate innovation, creativity and for them to start thinking like entrepreneurs ‘If I don’t get employed instead of seeking employment I could be the employment generator by establishing my own business and employing people.’ So we want them to be game changers for the economy of Belize so we are working with the educational system as part of our strategy for fostering entrepreneurship development in the country.”

]]>18751Spa and Wellness Association looks for signature Maya massagehttp://lovefm.com/spa-and-wellness-association-looks-for-signature-maya-massage/
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:18:02 +0000http://lovefm.com/?p=15632The Spa and Wellness Association has collaborated with BELTRIADE on a spa competition that started today in Belize City. The aim of the competition is to create a signature spa experience for visitors and Belizeans alike. General Manager of the Enterprise and Innovation Division at BELTRAIDE Lejia Melanie Gideon says they want the product or …

]]>The Spa and Wellness Association has collaborated with BELTRIADE on a spa competition that started today in Belize City. The aim of the competition is to create a signature spa experience for visitors and Belizeans alike. General Manager of the Enterprise and Innovation Division at BELTRAIDE Lejia Melanie Gideon says they want the product or service to have a Maya trademark.

Lejia Melanie Gideon – GM, Enterprise and Innovation Division, BELTRAIDE
“What makes us fundamentally Belizeans is the Mayan heritage that we have. So it is a Maya Spa experience. We would like to also take that brand that we create and export it so if a Belizean goes to another country in the Caribbean or somewhere else and ask if they have the May Spa experience and so that is how we are coming about, that is the objective to create a national brand for the spa industry.”

Gideon says that BELTRAIDE is taking part in the competition because its many clients have products or services that can be incorporated into the industry. We caught up with the team mid-afternoon and asked how authentically Mayan the presentations they had seen so far were. According to Gideon, this was a priority for them which is why they pooled together six judges to ensure that the service will be truly inspired by the Mayan culture. Among them is Aurelio Sho who is himself a Mopan Maya of 13 Kahnil Productions. Sho has been intimately involved in working with and promoting different Mayan cultures in Belize. He says while he was impressed by the first presentation, he is still looking for cultural elements that will be used in branding the service to represent a true Mayan experience.

Aurelio Sho – 13 Kahnil Productions
“Everything that we I am seeing right now is basic Maya, it’s something contemporary Maya and I think I am not sure to what extent this agency wants the Maya representation to be but I believe there is some aspect being covered in each presentation.”

Reporter
“Do you feel that more could be incorporated?”

Aurelio Sho – 13 Kahnil Productions
“Certainly I believe when it comes to the unique cultural elements in terms of the language, the utensils the traditional attire, the language and the traditional healing incorporated into the process of massage I think there is a lot that can be done to have a better representation of the Maya of Belize.”

Also part of the judges’ panel is international expert Adriana Azuara, CEO of “All 4 Spas” in Mexico. Azuara, who has worked with more than six hundred projects across Mexico and Latin America in the industry, says she sees great potential in Belize.

Adriana Azuara – CEO, All 4 Spas
“Mayan culture is very rich and the world is really craving for this kind of richness where we can take this historical ancient part and put it into the spa world.

Reporter
“So you think this product can actually work, that visitors will actually seek this product?”

Adriana Azuara – CEO, All 4 Spas
“Yes, not only here. People will seek it around the world because there is a Thai massage or this treatment from the Salt of the Himalayas but there is so much richness in our culture and there is nothing well prepared to take it to the world and the world is asking for it. Everybody is asking for something that is not just pampering but healing and has history so I think this is a very good opportunity and I think Belize is setting a precedent on how to support and engage the young people into the wellness industry which is a billion dollar industry and one that is growing everyday.”

The competition continues tomorrow. Judges will then select first, second and third place winners. On Wednesday the judges will go through all the presentations selecting the best parts of each which will then be incorporated it into one product.